OHSU MD/PhD Program

[MasterK]

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I can't find that much information on the OHSU MD/PhD website. Does anyone know how many MD/PhD applicants that apply? How many they interview? How many they accept? Any other comments about the program? How long does the program generally take? Any comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[URHere]

I can't find that much information on the OHSU MD/PhD website. Does anyone know how many MD/PhD applicants that apply? How many they interview? How many they accept? Any other comments about the program? How long does the program generally take? Any comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I'm a student in OHSU's MD/PhD program, and I'll do my best to answer your questions.

For the last few cycles, OHSU has accepted 3 external applicants (through AMCAS) and 2 internal applicants (from the MS1/2 classes) each year. I expect that this year will be similar with 3-4 acceptances going to external applicants. Although I'm not sure how many people apply for the program, I would estimate that we have 35-45 people interviewing each year.

As for the program itself, the official average is 8.5 years, but in recent years most students are completing 4 year PhDs. Those who graduate in 7 years and those who graduate in 9 years tend to balance each other out.

Other information you may find useful: the MD/PhD class is about 75% male and 25% female. During MS1/2 students follow the MD program curriculum fairly closely, but many students opt to take graduate school courses or continue lab rotations (this is a personal choice, there is no official requirement aside from the weekly MD/PhD journal club which runs for a student's entire stay). Students may also choose whether they enter graduate school after MS1 or after MS2. As for graduate programs, students either join Neuroscience ("NGP"), the Program in Molecular and Cellular Biosciences("PMCB") (Biochem, pharm, cell bio, etc are all sub-programs), Behavioral Neuro, Biomedical engineering, or Bioinformatics. Most of the MD/PhD students are in either in NGP or PMCB but all of the programs are represented among the MD/PhD students.

Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions!

 

[whiteshadodw]

doesn't OHSU have MSTP funding this year?

 

[Fencer]

Yes. Typically, NIH gives typically 2 slots the first year, and then, every additional year to a total of 6 to 8 prior to your next MSTP review by the study section. I met the PD at the last meeting and he has a lot of energy to take the program to another level with the MSTP "branding".

 

[URHere]

doesn't OHSU have MSTP funding this year?

OHSU had MSTP funding my first year, but (unless the current students are seriously out of the loop) we haven't had it since.

This is part of the reason why OHSU's MD/PhD class now pulls so heavily from the MS1/2 pools - the MSTP grant money was used primarily to fund first year students, and that is the group it has been most difficult for OHSU to fund since the MSTP title was lost.

Yes. Typically, NIH gives typically 2 slots the first year, and then, every additional year to a total of 6 to 8 prior to your next MSTP review by the study section. I met the PD at the last meeting and he has a lot of energy to take the program to another level with the MSTP "branding".

There have been many improvements in our program over the last few years, and a large part of this is due to the willingness of our program director and our more vocal students to fight (nicely) with the administration. Regardless, as I said before, if OHSU has MSTP funding again, the current students are unaware of it.

 

[whiteshadodw]

OHSU had MSTP funding my first year, but (unless the current students are seriously out of the loop) we haven't had it since.

wait, so now OHSU doesn't have MSTP funding? the NIH website says they do? i'm confused... i really want to know because i was gonna apply to OHSU if they did have funding.

 

[URHere]

wait, so now OHSU doesn't have MSTP funding? the NIH website says they do? i'm confused... i really want to know because i was gonna apply to OHSU if they did have funding.

There are multiple versions of MSTP program lists floating around on the internet. This site (which lists MSTP programs funded for the 7/11-6/12 term) does not list OHSU.

http://www.nigms.nih.gov/Training/InstPredoc/PredocInst-MSTP.htm

Regardless of MSTP status, OHSU still covers full tuition, health insurance, and living stipend for its students.

 

[JustForPretend]

There have been many improvements in our program over the last few years, and a large part of this is due to the willingness of our program director and our more vocal students to fight (nicely) with the administration.

Hey - care to elaborate on the improvements? What has been fixed and improved? What still needs to be done? Anything that current applicants to the program ought to know?

The fact that current students are needing to fight with the administration in any way is a big red flag for me.

 

[URHere]

Hey - care to elaborate on the improvements? What has been fixed and improved? What still needs to be done? Anything that current applicants to the program ought to know?

The fact that current students are needing to fight with the administration in any way is a big red flag for me.

When I first joined the MD/PhD program, the MD and PhD training components were not very well integrated.

For MD/PhD students, this generally meant that students were treated just like MD-only students for half of their training and just like PhD-only students for the other half. This was a problem because MD/PhD students often found themselves taking PhD courses on topics they already knew, or completing rural medicine rotations, etc that were not in line with their career goals.

Over the past few years, this has been steadily improving. There are now established ways of substituting medical school credits for certain graduate courses, alternate clerkship choices (for example, substituting a clinical medicine rotation for the rural medicine one), and precendents for testing out of core graduate courses altogether. Many of these changes have been made because our program director (and several current students) took an active role. Although the MD/PhD process becomes more unified each year, there is still some progress to be made - for example, most graduate school courses overlap with med school class time, and most of the graduate programs will not allow an MS1/2 to take graduate level classes that they cannot physically attend.

Aside from the ongoing work with integrating the MD and PhD programs, I really enjoy the program at OHSU. It should be mentioned that the program here is relatively hands-off. Students are given a great deal of freedom when it comes to structuring their training. For example, choosing to take extra classes, complete research rotations, etc during the MS1/2 years is optional. Students also have a say in whether or not they want to form a committee or complete their qualifying exams early - they are not required to do so until after GS2 year. Entering the PhD years after MS1 or MS2 is yet another decision left up to the students. This works well for some students, and not so well for others. I like it, but that's just my personal opinion.

Regardless, if you are concerned about anything to do with the program, just ask. People here will give you straight answers.